Top Items:
The Note:
Dem Senator: Negotiating with Republicans “Almost” like Negotiating with “Terrorists” — ABC News' Jonathan Karl reports: Did Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) just compare Republicans to terrorists? — Well, not really. But he did compare negotiating with Republicans to negotiating with terrorists.
Discussion:
CNN, The Politico, theblogprof, No More Mister Nice Blog, PoliPundit.com, WyBlog and The Gateway Pundit
RELATED:
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Freezing Out Hope — After the Democratic “shellacking” in the midterm elections, everyone wondered how President Obama would respond. Would he show what he was made of? Would he stand firm for the values he believes in, even in the face of political adversity?
Discussion:
New York Times, ThinkProgress, McClatchy Washington Bureau, The Hill, Rortybomb, Left in the West, CANNONFIRE, Crooks and Liars, JustOneMinute, Taylor Marsh, Balkinization, Commentary, AMERICAblog News, Shot in the Dark, The Confluence, Wall Street Journal, Balloon Juice, Left Coast Rebel, Washington Post, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The New Republic, Brilliant at Breakfast, The Impolitic, Prairie Weather, Suburban Guerrilla, Daily Kos, The Plum Line, Riehl World View, Connecting.the.Dots and The Atlantic Online
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Collins says 'Don't ask, don't tell' repeal must wait for tax cuts — Democrats hoping to move forward with legislation other than tax cuts shouldn't look to centrist Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) to break the logjam. — Collins said again on Friday that, while she would vote with Democrats …
Discussion:
The Caucus, The Reality-Based Community, Box Turtle Bulletin and Balloon Juice
Brad Reed / Crooks and Liars:
Dear Democrats, please, please, please don't eff this up
Dear Democrats, please, please, please don't eff this up
Discussion:
Washington Post, JOSHUAPUNDIT, Squawk Box and The Hill
U.S. Senator Susan Collins:
SENATOR COLLINS' STATEMENT ON 'DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL'
SENATOR COLLINS' STATEMENT ON 'DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL'
Discussion:
Firedoglake, scottbrown.senate.gov, Wonk Room, Hot Air, The Hill and Outside the Beltway
Adam Sorensen / The Page:
Donkey Doozy — The Democratic Party spirals unidirectionally.
Donkey Doozy — The Democratic Party spirals unidirectionally.
Discussion:
Don Surber, Hot Air, Commentary and CBS News
Chusa / ConservativeHome's Survey blog:
The top ten pundits among Republican activists — 1,152 Republican activists, as identified by YouGov America and polled by ConservativeHome.com, have chosen their favorite pundits. — These pundits, more than any other, will be the talking heads who will influence the choice of the GOP's nominee for 2012.
Discussion:
The Other McCain, Salon, The Enterprise Blog, Lean Left and The Daily Dish
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Scott Brown comes out in favor of DADT repeal — This is potentially important. The statement just out from Senator Scott Brown's office: … A few quick points on this. First, it shows beyond doubt — as I thought would happen — that Robert Gates's handling of this whole affair …
RELATED:
Josh Gerstein / The Politico:
Scott Brown backs 'don't ask' repeal measure
Scott Brown backs 'don't ask' repeal measure
Discussion:
Runnin' Scared and Prop 8 Trial Tracker
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Can we please have some nuance? — It's being widely reported right …
Can we please have some nuance? — It's being widely reported right …
Discussion:
Gawker and Washington Monthly
Guardian:
Julian Assange answers your questions — The founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, answers readers' questions about the release of more than 250,000 US diplomatic cables — Fwoggie … Julian Assange: — I am an Australian citizen and I miss my country a great deal.
RELATED:
Andy Barr / The Politico:
Ron Paul stands up for Julian Assange
Ron Paul stands up for Julian Assange
Discussion:
AmSpecBlog, Ben Smith's Blog and Lawfare
Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:
Hardball — From First Read: … Maybe a reluctance to play hardball is the issue here. But there are at least two other things involved. The first is simply that Republicans believe their own PR more than Democrats do. When Republicans get hysterical about something, it's genuine.
Discussion:
msnbc.com and A plain blog about politics
RELATED:
Jamelle Bouie / American Prospect:
What's So Hard About Hardball?
Martha C. White / Slate:
What's in those free-trade agreements—and do they really boost exports? — On its face, trade policy may seem like pretty stodgy stuff, but don't be fooled. Since this administration hopes to reduce the deficit and increase employment by growing our exports, the policies that shape that flow of goods and services play a key role.
Discussion:
Grasping Reality … and Yglesias
RELATED:
Elizabeth Williamson / Wall Street Journal:
U.S., Korea Agree on Free-Trade Pact
U.S., Korea Agree on Free-Trade Pact
Discussion:
Commentary
Mitt Romney / Boston Globe:
Stop START — Nuclear treaty limits America's options for missile defense
Stop START — Nuclear treaty limits America's options for missile defense
Discussion:
Eunomia, The Angle, The Politico, GOP 12, Fox News, The Foundry, Balloon Juice and Congress Blog
Mark Joyella / Mediaite:
Karl Rove Slams Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee Over Bush-Bashing Comments — On Laura Ingraham's radio show, Karl Rove defended the Bushes against a series of comments, including Sarah Palin's reference to the Bushes as “blue-bloods” and Mike Huckabee saying the Bushes “weren't for me.”
RELATED:
Niraj Warikoo / Detroit Free Press:
Defiant Helen Thomas defends remarks that led to exit — Striking a defiant tone, journalist Helen Thomas, 90, said today she absolutely stands by her controversial comments about Israel made earlier this year that led to her resignation. But she stoked additional controversy with new remarks …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Moe Lane, FrumForum and The New Republic
RELATED:
Praveen Swami / blogs.telegraph.co.uk:
The sight of women's breasts won't deter Islamists - they're obsessed with sex — Denmark's government is being called upon to employ a lethal new weapon in the fight against Islamist extremism: bare breasts. — No, I'm not making this up - and also deny outrageous suggestions that I'm looking …
Discussion:
iOwnTheWorld.com and The Gateway Pundit
David Dayen / Firedoglake:
After Catfood Commission Fails to Meet Mandate, Dem Senators Rally for Austerity — Fourteen Democratic Senators have asked Harry Reid for action on reining in the budget deficit, on the same day that the Catfood Commission failed to reach the threshold to deliver an official report.
Discussion:
The Hill and The Atlantic Online
RELATED:
David Kravets / Threat Level:
Viacom Says YouTube Ruling Will ‘Completely Destroy’ Copyright — Viacom appealed Friday its unsuccessful $1 billion copyright lawsuit against Google's YouTube in a case testing the depths of copyright-infringement protection under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.
J. Taylor Rushing / The Hill:
Durbin: DREAM Act will come to the Senate floor next week — Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on Friday predicted a Senate vote on the DREAM Act will be held next week. — “Sen. Reid is going to call it,” Durbin told The Hill shortly after the chamber adjourned at 3:30 p.m. Friday.
Discussion:
White House.gov Blog Feed
Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
Obama Using Unemployed as an Excuse to Get What He Wanted All Along — It's been clear for some time that President Obama made the political calculation that he does not want any of the Bush tax cuts to expire. He doesn't have to be the guy in 2012 running for President on having “raised taxes during a time of recession.”
Discussion:
Sky Dancing, The Confluence, The Atlantic Online and Mother Jones
The Huffington Post:
Harkin: If Obama Caves On Taxes, He Better Pray For Palin In 2012 — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? … WASHINGTON — The sense of frustration among Senate Democrats over the White House's handling of the tax cut debate has grown throughout the week, culminating in a series of articles …
Discussion:
Roll Call, Washington Post, Sky Dancing, USA Today, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Daily Kos, Guardian, PERRspectives, Washington Monthly, Ezra Klein, GOP 12 and FrumForum
Motoko Rich / New York Times:
Disappointing Job Growth in U.S. as Jobless Rate Hits 9.8% — In a significant setback to the recovery and market expectations, the United States economy added just 39,000 jobs in November, and the unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent, according to the Department of Labor.
Discussion:
Economix, The Huffington Post, Calculated Risk, Wall Street Journal, The Other McCain, McClatchy Washington Bureau, The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly, Indecision Forever, About.com US Liberal Politics, Wake up America, USA Today, protein wisdom, New York Magazine, Don Surber, Wonkette, The Gateway Pundit, Questions and Observations, TalkLeft, Balloon Juice and Scared Monkeys
Marc Lacey / New York Times:
Arizona Cuts Financing for Transplant Patients — PHOENIX — Even physicians with decades of experience telling patients that their lives are nearing an end are having difficulty discussing a potentially fatal condition that has arisen in Arizona: Death by budget cut.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Incidental Economist, The Reality-Based Community, Daily Kos and Gawker
Doug Powers / Michelle Malkin:
UN Climate Summit Leader Prays to Mayan Moon Goddess — Watch out, Al Gore, your moonbat congregation is starting to direct their prayers elsewhere: … It just makes sense: When you're pushing a myth, there's no more appropriate entity to pray to than a mythical goddess. Why be inconsistent?
Discussion:
Oliver Willis
Douglas Holtz-Eakin / National Review:
The November Employment Report: A Wake-up Call — Awful. That's the best one can say about the November employment report. The headline — that unemployment jumped to 9.8 percent — is not really the bad news. If and when the economy does catch fire, droves of discouraged workers …
Discussion:
Power Line, Outside the Beltway and Mother Jones
Adam Ozimek / Modeled Behavior:
The mortgage interest deduction: winners and losers — The debate on tax reform is starting to heat up with various proposals being debated, and many policies are being considered for the chopping block. One of them is the mortgage interest deduction (MID).
Discussion:
Mother Jones
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Groupon Annual Revenues Actually $2 Billion — According to sources close to the situation, Groupon's actual run rate for this year is clocking in at $2 billion in revenue, rather than the widely quoted $500 million. — Who knew hawking spas treatments and stripper pole lessons could be so lucrative?
Discussion:
VentureBeat, GigaOM, TechCrunch and ReadWriteWeb, more at Techmeme »
Mary Clare Jalonick / hosted2.ap.org:
Hold the brownies! Bill could limit bake sales … WASHINGTON (AP) — Don't touch my brownies! — A child nutrition bill on its way to President Barack Obama — and championed by the first lady — gives the government power to limit school bake sales and other fundraisers that health advocates …
Discussion:
Right Wing News and Joanne Jacobs
Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Montana Republican Numbers — On the Montana poll that we released a couple weeks ago we also had some numbers on who Republicans in the state wanted as their candidates for President and Senate in 2012 and we just never got around to releasing them. So here goes:
Discussion:
GOP 12 and Conservatives4Palin.com
Jennifer Epstein / The Politico:
Hillary Clinton: State is ‘last’ public post — Hillary Clinton says, ‘I think I will serve as secretary of state as my last public position.’ — Secretary of state will be Hillary Clinton's “last public position,” she said Friday, yet again tamping down speculation that she's plotting …
Discussion:
Scared Monkeys, The Note and CNN
Barry Eichengreen / voxeu.org:
Ireland's rescue package: Disaster for Ireland, bad omen for the Eurozone — Irish interest spreads did not fall and contagion continues. Here one of the world's leading international economists explains why. Short-sighted, wishful thinking by EU and German leadership designed a package …
Discussion:
Marginal Revolution
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Obama issues first pardons of presidency, four in cocaine cases — President Obama issued the first pardons of his presidency, excusing the convicts of crimes, many of which were drug-related. — Obama made nine pardons, four of which were in cases related to cocaine convictions.
Discussion:
The Politico
Myglesias / Yglesias:
Mental Prisoner of the Congress — An except from the President's statement on the Simpson/Bowles Commission: … I have various disagreements with this, but I think this also illustrates the extent to which the former-Senator President his senior staff full of former legislative aids …